Maps
by Mibamonster
Summary: After getting the Marauders' Map from Harry - to 'help him get out of trouble' - Teddy has some difficulty finding out how it works. Luckily, the Marauders are always happy to help new mischief makers. Earlier version appeared in The Marauders' Companion.


'Is there any particular reason why you're staring at an old piece of empty parchment?'

Teddy looked up from the parchment and into the green eyes of his best friend, Charles Crawford. 'Yes, but I don't know what it is,' he said.

'Perfect Lupin logic,' said Charles. 'Why do things for a reason when you can do them randomly?'

Teddy rolled his eyes. 'Harry gave it to me, saying it might "help me get out of detention" – though how some old parchment is supposed to help me with that? First I thought there might be instructions on it, you know, in invisible ink, but I couldn't find anything.'

'Harry has ways of getting out of detention?' Charles raised his eyebrows. 'Mr "I saved the world from You-Know-Who" Potter actually got in trouble when he went to Hogwarts?'

'It's clear _someone _hasn't read his biography. Biographie_s_,' Teddy corrected himself, thinking of the pile of dusty, untouched books authors always sent them, but which Harry never read. 'Yes, Harry had a _lot_ of experience with getting into trouble, trust me on that. Not just "Oh shit I have to defeat Voldemort" or "Fuck I'm in the Triwizard Tournament" trouble, also… normal trouble. And getting out of it, obviously. So this probably has a point; I just have to figure out what I'm meant to do with it.' Teddy sagged back into the couch, his eyes never leaving the parchment. He would try to force the it to reveal its secrets through sheer will, but alas, he's already attempted that and it hadn't worked.

'Want my help?' Charles said.

'Gladly.'

'Okay.' Charles sat down next to Teddy and stared at the parchment. 'There isn't any invisible ink, you say?'

Teddy shook his head. 'No. Not even a hint of it to give us further directions.'

'Hmm.' After getting out his wand, Charles held it over the parchment. 'Mind if I try a little magic on it?'

Teddy gestured for him to go ahead. 'By all means, try your best. I was just planning on doing that anyway,' he said. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair. It was a light brown today, much like his father's before he'd gone grey, although Remus had never had curls. 'Harry could've given me _some _hint…'

'Lupin, this is a challenge. I thought you were all for those?' said Charles as he tapped the parchment with the tip of his wand.

'Yes, when I have _something _to work with. For all I know, Harry just thought it would be funny to see how long I'd -' Teddy shut up as before him handwriting appeared on the parchment.

It was a handwriting he recognized, though he didn't know where he'd seen it before.

_Mr Moony suggests you ask us some things._

'Mr Moony?' Charles looked puzzled. '"Us"?'

'No idea,' Teddy said.

He got out his wand as well and tapped the parchment. 'Who are you?'

A different handwriting appeared; the messy scrawl reminded Teddy of Harry's short letters.

_We are Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail and Prongs, also known as the Marauders. Is that the best you've got?_

'We're being mocked by parchment,' said Charles. 'This is pathetic, Lupin. Okay, er… What kind of parchment is this? What can you do with it?' He moved to touch the parchment again, but words appeared already, in yet another handwriting.

_When used properly? This can be used to create mayhem and chaos in Hogwarts. Otherwise – especially in the hands of _Prefects_, like Mr Moony here –_ _one can use it to make patrolling easier. We recommend you don't do that. It wouldn't do justice to this thing of beauty._

Teddy and Charles exchanged excited looks. Cause mayhem and chaos? That sounded like a good idea.

'And how can we get it to help us?' Teddy said.

_Show us what you want to do with it. Make sure it isn't good at all._

'What do we want to do with it?' Charles said. 'We don't even know what it is! I just love it when magical objects are so -'

As he spoke, a fourth handwriting appeared. Teddy shoved him in the ribs to shut him up.

_Mr Wormtail also suggests you are solemn. He just thought he'd tell you that. Good luck!_

Teddy raised his eyebrows, but then he shrugged and cleared his throat. 'Okay. Er… Charles Crawford and I, Ted Lupin, want to use this thing to pull amazing pranks.' He put his hand over his heart, to show how solemn he was.

The second handwriting returned.

_Too specific. Not solemn enough. _

'Well, you're not specific enough,' Charles muttered. The third hand replied immediately.

_If you can't figure it out, you're not worthy anyway. You're with a Lupin – he should know what to do. _

'They know my family?' Teddy said. 'I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not…'

'Doesn't matter, they have a point. You're the one whose father was a Professor and whose mum managed to become an Auror. You have thinking DNA,' Charles said. 'So _think_, Lupin! Make yourself useful for once!'

As Teddy pondered the words, he gave himself a goatee he could stroke. _It isn't good at all. Solemn. Didn't you one hear Harry say something… What was it again? _'I think I remember Harry once saying… "I swear I'm up to no good"?' He tapped the parchment again.

_Close. Are you sure you're solemn enough? _the first handwriting wrote.

A broad grin stretched cross Teddy's face. 'Charlie? I think I know how it works.' He rolled up his sleeves and tapped the parchment for the last time. 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good.'

* * *

**A/N: That adorable boy on the cover is Luke Newberry, who was cast as Teddy, but unfortunately he wasn't in the epilogue.  
**


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